Why the TE reporter has indulged in advertising existence of a North Korean Restaurant in Dhaka free? I can assure him that he would not be invited to visit Pyongyang proper till he clarifies his intentions to the North Koreans!By the by,the reporter has failed to mention whether the food bill was paid or not? Or was it on account of the house?

I went to a North Korean restaurant in Beijing when I was there. It was a surreal experience - it was crazy believing that the workers there were in such a bustling, dynamic city but would eventually go back to North Korea. The food was similar to the regular South Korean establishments, but I felt they were simpler in flavor and less vibrant in color. More expensive too.

The servers were all exceptionally beautiful ladies and poised, and like the reader said, not a hint of hostility towards anyone. Although, a group of North Korean men with Kim Jong-Il pins on their blazers gave our group a suspicious look.

Except for NK official spokelady, most NK ladies (soldiers, nurses, students etc) have porcelian skin - something which could be attributed to their diet (or lack of). NK ladies should be selling NK made Loreal lady products.

It's good to hear that there's a wider choice of restaurants these days in Dhaka, compared to when I lived there in the early 1960s. Back then, it seemed that the only restaurant available (apart from those at various clubs) served Chinese food, especially a delightful shark fin soup.

Fast forward 50 years, and my hometown of Washington DC has matured from a city of "Southern efficiency and Northern charm," in JFK's slight, to a foodie mecca.

Underneath every plate of injera and mixed into every bowl of beef pho, however, is a human story: sometimes ennobling, sometimes tragic and sometimes both simultaneously.

Just across the Potomac River from D.C., in Alexandria, Virginia (on land retroceded to Virginia in 1846, partly to circumvent abolition of its slave market), sits the capital area's star in the global North Korean food firmament.

As you might expect, the woman who owns the Washington region's NK restaurant has a story worthy of a wry but also appalling political drama, like House of Cards or Fair Game. The restaurateur's career starts as an operative for the NK drug enforcement agency, arresting people who were illegally shipping drugs OUT of NK; winds on through her rise and fall in the NK security services; torture by mercenary Chinese Chekists; flight to freedom &c.

They aren't that distinguishable from South Korean restaurants. A lot of South Korean customers drawn by the novelty. The North Koreans seem apolitical. They'll happily serve Lee Myung-Bak or anyone willing to spend. Like all peoples, they have a fondness for their hometown which is evident in their music.

The waitresses in Pyongyang-Dhaka told me the other reason for their success 'South Korean men are very handsome; North Korean girls are very beautiful'... Maybe this explains the groups of men who patronise it. Nevertheless the food is good and karaoke is amusing.

1. I don't know what Mt. Paek-tae is, and I even looked it up just in case you were referring to a mountain that I had somehow missed. You were referring to Mt. Paek-tu, which should be called Mt. Baek-du anyways under the new Romanization regime for the Korean language.

2. The article is about a North Korean restaurant in Bangladesh. Why is this under Analects, where China is supposed to be discussed? Or has China taken over these two countries already?

Anyways, I don't really get the point of this article. It might be a novelty for some, but North Koreans do all sorts of strange things anyways. What were you trying to say?